LIBRARY 


of 

CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 


presented  to  the 
UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 

by 


Howard  L.  Chernoff 


ALTEMUS' 
ETERNAL  Mil!  SERIES. 

Selections  from  tilt  writings  of  utll-linou/n  religious  authors' 
utorks.  beautifully  printed  and  daintily  bound  In  leatherette 
with  original  designs  In  silver  and  Ink. 

PRICE.  25  CCHTS  PCK  VOLUME. 


ETERNAL  LIFE,  by  Profeaaor  Henry  Drummond. 
LORD.  TEACH  UST O  PRAY,  l.y  Rev.  Andrew  Murray. 
GOD'SWORD  AND  GOD'S  WORK,  by  Martin  I.mhcr 
FAITH,  by  Tliomns  Arnold. 
THE  CREATION    STORY,  hy  Honorable  William   B. 

THE  'MESSAGE  OF  COMFORT,  hy  m  RCV.  Ashton 

OXCIlden. 

THE  MESSAGE  OF  PEACE,  by  Rev.  R    \V.  Church. 
THE     LORD'S    PRAYER    AND    THE    TEN    COM- 
MANDMENTS,  bv   I>enn   Stanley. 

THE  MEMOIRS  OF  JESUS,  by  Krv.  Robert  F.  Horton. 
HYMNS  OF  PRAISE  AND  GLADNESS,  by  Elisabeth 

..vil. 

DIFFICULTIES,  1-y  H:mn.-ih  Whi|nll  Smith. 
GAMBLERS  AND  GAMBLING,  by  Rev.  Henry  Ward 

HAVE  FAITH  IN  GOD,  by  Rev.  Andrew  Murray. 
TWELVE  CAUSES  OK  DISHONESTY,  by  Rev.  Henry 

Ward  Beecher. 
THE  CHRIST  IN  WHOM  CHRISTIANS  BELIEVE, 

l>v  Kt.  k'-v.  Phillips  Brooks. 
IN  MY  NAME,  by  Rev.  Andrew  Murray. 
SIX  WARNINGS,  by  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
THE  DUTY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  BUSINESS  MAN, 

bv  Kt    Rev.  Phillips  Brooks. 
POPULAR    AMUSEMENTS,   by    Rev.    Henry    Ward 

Beecher. 

TRUE  LIBERTY,  by  Rt   Rev.  Phillips  Brooks. 
INDUSTRY  AND    IDLENESS,  by  Rev.  Henry  Ward 

Beecher. 
THE   BEAUTY   OF   A    LIFE   OF   SERVICE,  by   Rt. 

Rev.  Phillips  Brooks. 
THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  OUR  LORD,  by  Rrv.  A. 

T    Fierson.D.D. 

THOUGHT  AND  ACTION,  by  Rt.  Rev.  Phillips  Brooks. 
THE  HEAVENLY  VISION,  by  Rev.  I  .  H.  Meyer. 
MORNING  STRENGTH,  by  Klisabeth  R.  Scovil. 
FOR  THE  QUIET  HOUR,  by  Kciith  V.  Bradt. 
EVENING  COMFORT,  by  Klisabeth  R.  8co\il 
WORDS   OF   HELP    FOR   CHRISTIAN  GIRLS,   by 

Rt-v    !•'    li   Meyer 
HOW   TO   STUDY   THE  BIBLE,  by  Rev.  Dwight  L. 

EXPECTATION  CORNER,  by  I-    S    Hlliot. 
JESSICA'S  FIRST  PRAYER,  by  Hesba  Stretton. 


HENRY  ALTEMUS, 
507.  509,  577.  573  Cherry  Street.  Philadelphia. 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


By  Rev.  Henry 
Ward 
Beecher 


Philadelphia 
Henry  Altemus 


Copyrighted.  1896,  by  HKMEY  ALTRMU*. 


MIMUT  *l  1(MI».  MAMttVACTVMM, 


GAMBLERS    AND    GAMBLING 


Then  the  soldiers,  when  they  had  crucified  Jesus,  took 
his  garments  and  made  four  parts,  to  every  soldier  a 
part,  and  also  his  coat.  Now  the  coat  was  without 
seam,  woven  from  the  top  throughout.  They  said 
therefore  among  themselves,  Let  us  not  rend  it,  but 
cast  lots  for  it,  whose  it  shall  be.  These  things 
therefore  the  soldiers  did. 

I  HAVE  condensed  into  one  account  the 
separate  parts  of  this  gambling  trans- 
action as  narrated  by  each  evangelist. 
How  marked  in  every  age  is  a  Gambler's 
character  1  The  enraged  priesthood  of 
ferocious  sects  taunted  Christ's  dying 
agonies ;  the  bewildered  multitude,  accus- 
tomed to  cruelty,  could  shout;  but  no 
earthly  creature,  but  a  Gambler,  could  be  so 
lost  to  all  feeling  as  to  sit  down  coolly 
under  a  dying  man  to  wrangle  for  his  gar- 
ments, and  arbitrate  their  avaricious  differ- 
ences by  casting  dice  for  his  tunic,  with 
hands  spotted  with  his  spattered  blood, 
warm  and  yet  undried  upon  them.  The 
descendants  of  these  patriarchs  of  gambling, 

(3) 


4  GAMBLERS  AXD    GA.VRI.L\G 

however,  have  taught  us  that  there  is  noth- 
ing possible  to  hell,  uncongenial  to  these, 
its  elect  saints.  In  this  lecture  it  is  my 
disagreeable  task  to  lead  your  steps  down 
the  dark  path  to  their  cruel  haunts,  there  to 
exhibit  their  infernal  passions,  their  awful 
ruin,  and  their  ghastly  memorials.  In  this 
house  of  darkness,  amid  fierce  faces  gleam- 
ing with  the  fire  of  fiercer  hearts,  amid  oaths 
and  groans  and  fiendish  orgies,  ending  in 
murders  and  strewn  with  sweltering 
corpses, — do  not  mistake,  and  suppose 
yourself  in  Hell, — you  are  only  in  its  pre- 
cincts and  vestibule. 


Gambling  is  the  staking  or  winning  of 
property  upon  mere  hazard.  The  husband- 
man renders  produce  for  his  gains ;  the 
mechanic  renders  the  product  of  labor  and 
skill  for  his  gains;  the  gambler  renders  for 
his  gain  the  sleights  of  useless  skill,  or 
more  often,  downright  cheating.  Betting 
is  gambling  ;  there  is  no  honest  equivalent 
to  its  gains.  Dealings  in  fancy-stocks  are 
oftentimes  sheer  gambling,  with  all  its 
worst  evils.  Profits  so  earned  are  no  better 
than  the  profits  of  dice,  cards,  or  hazard. 
When  skill  returns  for  its  earnings  a  use- 
ful service,  as  knowledge,  beneficial  amuse- 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING  5 

rflents,  or  profitable  labor,  it  is  honest  com- 
merce. The  skill  of  a  pilot  in  threading  a 
narrow  channel,  the  skill  of  a  lawyer  in 
threading  a  still  more  intricate  one,  are  as 
substantial  equivalents  for  a  price  received, 
as  if  they  were  merchant  goods  or  agricul- 
tural products.  But  all  gains  of  mere  skill 
which  result  in  no  real  benefit,  are  gambling 
gains. 

Gaming,  as  it  springs  from  a  principle  of 
our  nature,  has,  in  some  form,  probably 
existed  in  every  age.  We  trace  it  in 
remote  periods  and  among  the  most  bar- 
barous people.  It  loses  none  of  its  fascina- 
tions among  a  civilized  people.  On  the 
contrary,  the  habit  of  fierce  stimulants,  the 
jaded  appetite  of  luxury,  and  the  satiety  of 
wealth,  seem  to  invite  the  master-excitant. 
Our  land,  not  apt  to  be  behind  in  good  or 
evil,  is  full  of  gambling  in  all  its  forms — 
the  gambling  of  commerce,  the  gambling  of 
bets  and  wagers,  and  the  gambling  of  games 
of  hazard.  There  is  gambling  in  refined 
circles,  and  in  the  lowest ;  among  the  mem- 
bers of  our  national  government,  and  of  our 
state  governments.  Thief  gambles  with 
thief,  in  jail;  the  judge  who  sent  them 
there,  the  lawyer  who  prosecuted,  and  the 
lawyer  who  defended  them,  often  gamble 
too.  This  vice,  once  almost  universally 
prevalent  among  the  Western  bar,  and  still 


6  GAMBLERS  A.\D   GAMBLING 

too  frequently  disgracing  its  members,  is, 
however,  we  are  happy  to  believe,  decreas- 
ing. In  many  circuits,  not  long  ago,  and 
in  some  now,  the  judge,  the  jury,  and  the 
bar,  shufHed  cards  by  ni^ht,  and  law  by 
day— dealing  out  money  and  justice  alike. 
The  clatter  of  dice  and  cards  disturbs  your 
slumber  on  the  boat,  and  rings  drowsily 
from  the  upper  rooms  of  the  hotel.  This 
vice  pervades  the  city,  extends  over  every 
line  of  travel,  and  infests  the  most  moral 
districts.  The  secreted  lamp  dimly  lights 
the  apprentices  to  their  game  ;  with  unsus- 
pected disobedience,  boys  creep  out  of  their 
beds  to  it ;  it  goes  on  in  the  store  close  by 
the  till  ;  it  haunts  the  shop.  The  scoun- 
drel in  his  lair,  the  scholar  in  his  room  ;  the 
pirate  on  his  ship,  gay  women  at  parties; 
loafers  on  the  street-corner,  public  function- 
aries in  their  offices ;  the  beggar  under  the 
hedge,  the  rascal  in  prison,  and  some  pro- 
fessors of  religion  in  the  somnolent  hours 
of  the  Sabbath, — waste  their  energies  by 
the  ruinous  excitement  of  the  game. 
Uesidcs  these  players,  there  are  troops  of 
professional  gamblers,  troops  of  hangers-on, 
troops  of  youth  to  be  drawn  in.  An  inex- 
perienced eye  would  detect  in  our  peaceful 
tov^ns  no  signs  of  this  vulture-flock  ; — so  in 
a  sunny  day,  when  all  cheerful  birds  are 
singing  merrily,  not  a  buzzard  can  be  seen ; 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING  - 

but  let  a  carcass  drop,  and  they  will  push 
forth  their  gaunt  heads  from  their  gloomy 
roosts,  and  come  flapping  from  the  dark 
woods  to  speck  the  air,  and  dot  the  ground 
with  their  numbers. 

The  universal  prevalence  of  this  vice  is  a 
reason  for  parental  vigilance  ;  and  a  reason 
of  remonstrance  from  the  citizen,  the  parent, 
the  minister  of  the  gospel,  the  patriot,  and 
the  press.  I  propose  to  trace  its  opening, 
describe  its  subjects,  and  detail  its  effects. 

A  young  man,  proud  of  freedom,  anxious 
to  exert  his  manhood,  has  tumbled  his 
Bible,  and  sober  books,  and  letters  of  coun- 
sel, into  a  dark  closet.  He  has  learned 
various  accomplishments,  to  flirt,  to  boast, 
to  swear,  to  fight,  to  drink.  He  has  let 
every  one  of  these  chains  be  put  around 
him,  upon  the  solemn  promise  of  Satan  that 
he  would  take  them  off  whenever  he 
wished.  Hearing  of  the  artistic  feats  of 
eminent  gamblers,  he  emulates  them.  So, 
he  ponders  the  game.  He  teaches  what  he 
has  learned  to  his  shopmates,  and  feels 
himself  their  master.  As  yet  he  has  never 
played  for  stakes.  It  begins  thus  :  Peeping 
into  a  book-store,  he  watches  till  the  sober 
customers  go  out ;  then  slips  in,  and  with 
assumed  boldness,  not  concealing  his 
shame,  he  asks  for  cards,  buys  them,  and 
hastens  out.  The  first  game  is  to  pay  for 


g  GAMBLERS  AKD  GAMBLING 

the  cards.  After  the  relish  of  playing  for  a 
stake,  no  panic  can  satisfy  them  liithout  a 
stake.  A  few  nuts  are  staked ;  then  a  bottle 
of  wine;  an  oyster-supper.  At  last  they 
can  venture  a  sixpence  in  actual  money — 
just  for  the  amusement  of  it.  I  need  go 
no  further — whoever  wishes  to  do  anything 
with  the  lad,  can  do  it  now.  If  properly 
plied,  and  gradually  led,  he  will  go  to  nny 
length,  and  stop  only  at  the  gallows.  Do 
you  doubt  it  ?  let  us  trace  him  a  year  or 
two  further  on. 

With  his  father's  blessing,  and  his 
mother's  tears,  the  young  man  departs 
from  home.  He  has  received  his  patri- 
mony, and  embarks  for  life  and  indepen- 
dence. Upon  his  journey  he  rests  at  a  city ; 
visits  the  "school  of  morals;"  lingers  in 
more  suspicious  places;  is  seen  by  a 
sharper;  and  makes  his  acquaintance.  The 
knave  sits  by  him  at  dinner;  gives  him  the 
news  of  the  place,  and  a  world  of  advice  ; 
cautions  him  against  sharpers;  inquires  if 
he  has  money,  and  charges  him  to  keep  it 
secret;  offers  himself  to  make  with  him  the 
rounds  of  the  town,  and  secure  him  from 
imposition.  At  length,  that  he  may  see  all, 
he  is  taken  to  a  gaming-house,  but,  with 
apparent  kindness,  warned  not  to  play. 
He  stands  by  to  see  the  various  fortunes  of 
the  game;  some,  forever  losing;  some, 


GAMBLERS  AND    GAMBLING  g 

touch  what  number  they  will,  gaining  piles 
of  gold.  Looking  in  thirst  where  wine  is 
free.  A  glass  is  taken ;  another  of  a  better 
kind  ;  next  the  best  the  landlord  has,  and 
two  glasses  of  that.  A  change  comes  over 
the  youth ;  his  exhilaration  raises  his 
courage,  and  lulls  his  caution.  Gambling 
seen,  seems  a  different  thing  from  gambling 
painted  by  a  pious  father!  Just  then  his 
friend  remarks  that  one  might  easily  double 
his  money  by  a  few  ventures,  but  that  it 
was,  perhaps,  prudent  not  to  risk.  Only 
this  was  needed  to  fire  his  mind.  What ! 
only  prudence  between  me  and  gain  ? 
Then  that  shall  not  be  long !  He  stakes  ; 
he  wins.  Stakes  again ;  wins  again. 
Glorious!  I  am  the  lucky  man  that  is  to 
break  the  bank!  He  stakes,  and  wins 
again.  His  pulse  races;  his  face  burns;  his 
blood  is  up,  and  fear  gone.  He  loses ;  loses 
again ;  loses  all  his  winnings ;  loses  more. 
But  fortune  turns  again  ;  he  wins  anew.  He 
has  now  lost  all  self-command.  Gains  ex- 
cite him,  and  losses  excite  him  more.  He 
doubles  his  stakes;  then  trebles  them — and 
all  is  swept.  He  rushes  on,  puts  up  his 
whole  purse,  and  loses  the  whole!  Then 
he  would  borrow ;  no  man  will  lend.  He 
is  desperate,  he  will  fight  at  a  word.  He  is 
led  to  the  street,  and  thrust  out.  The  cool 
breeze  which  blows  upon  his  fevered  cheek, 


10  CAAffif.KRS  A,\'D    GAMRUXG 

wafts  the  slow  and  solemn  stroke  of  the 
clock,— one, — two, — three, — four;  four  of 
the  morning/  Quick  work  of  ruin  ! — an  in- 
nocent man  destroyed  in  a  night!  He 
staggers  to  his  hotel,  remembers  as  he 
enters  it,  that  he  has  not  even  enough  to 
pay  his  bill.  It  now  flashes  upon  him  that 
his  friend,  who  never  had  left  him  for  an 
hour  before,  had  stayed  behind  where  his 
money  is,  and,  doubtless,  is  laughing  over 
his  spoils.  His  blood  boils  with  rage.  But 
at  length  comes  up  the  remembrance  of 
home;  a  parent's  training  and  counsels  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  destroyed  in  a 
night !  "  Good  God  !  what  a  wretch  I  have 
been!  I  am  not  fit  to  live.  I  cannot  go 
home.  I  am  a  stranger  here.  Oh  !  that  I 
were  dead  I  Oh  !  that  I  had  died  before  I 
knew  this  guilt,  and  were  lying  where  my 
sister  lies!  Oh  God!  Oh  God!  my  head 
will  burst  with  agony ! "  He  stalks  his 
lonely  room  with  an  agony  which  only  the 
young  heart  knows  in  its  first  horrible 
awakening  to  remorse — when  it  looks  de- 
spair full  in  the  face,  and  feels  its  hideous 
incantations  tempting  him  to  suicide.  Sub- 
dued at  length  by  agony,  cowed  and  weak- 
ened by  distress,  he  is  sought  again  by 
those  who  plucked  him.  Cunning  to  sub- 
vert inexperience,  to  raise  the  evil  passions, 


GAMBLERS  AND    GAMBLING          n 

and  to  allay  the  good,  they  make  him  their 
pliant  tool. 

Farewell,  young  man  !  I  see  thy  steps 
turned  to  that  haunt  again  !  I  see  hope 
lighting  thy  face  ;  but  it  is  a  lurid  light,  and 
never  came  from  heaven.  Stop  before  that 
threshold ! — turn,  and  bid  farewell  to 
home  ! — farewell  to  innocence  ! — farewell  to 
venerable  father  and  aged  mother ! — the  next 
step  shall  part  thee  from  them  all  forever. 
And  now  henceforth  be  a  mate  to  thieves, 
a  brother  to  corruption.  Thou  hast  made 
a  league  with  death,  and  unto  death  shalt 
thou  go. 

Let  us  here  pause,  to  draw  the  likeness 
of  a  few  who  stand  conspicuous  in  that 
vulgar  crowd  of  gamblers,  with  which  here- 
after he  will  consort.  The  first  is  a  taciturn, 
quiet  man.  No  one  knows  when  he  comes 
into  town,  or  when  he  leaves.  No  man 
hears  of  his  gaining ;  for  he  never  boasts, 
nor  reports  his  luck.  He  spends  little  for 
parade ;  his  money  seems  to  go  and  come 
only  through  the  game.  He  reads  none, 
converses  none,  is  neither  a  glutton  nor  a 
hard  drinker;  he  sports  few  ornaments,  and 
wears  plain  clothing.  Upon  the  whole,  he 
seems  a  gentlemanly  man  ;  and  sober  citi- 
zens say,  "  his  only  fault  is  gambling." 
What  then  is  this  "  only  fault?"  In  his 
heart  he  has  the  most  intense  and  consum- 


12          GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLL\G 

ing  lust  of  play.  He  is  quiet  because 
every  passion  is  absorbed  in  one  ;  and  that 
one  burning  at  tlie  highest  fl.mie.  He 
thinks  of  nothing  else,  cares  only  for  this. 
All  other  things,  even  the  hottest  lusts  of 
other  men,  are  too  cool  to  be  temptations 
to  him  ;  so  much  deeper  is  the  style  of  his 
I  ions.  He  will  sit  upon  his  chair,  anil 
no  man  shall  see  him  move  for  hours,  ex- 
cept to  play  his  cards.  He  sees  none  come 
in,  none  go  out.  Death  might  groan  on 
one  side  of  the  room,  and  marriage  might 
sport  on  the  other. — he  would  know  nei- 
ther. Every  created  influence  is  shut  out ; 
one  thing  only  moves  him — \\\c  game;  and 
that  leaves  not  one  pulse  of  excitability 
unaroused,  but  stirs  his  soul  to  the  very 
dregs. 

Very  different  is  the  roistering  gamester. 
He  bears  a  jolly  face,  a  glistening  eye 
something  watery  through  watching  and 
drink.  His  fingers  are  manacled  in  rings; 
his  bosom  glows  with  pearls  and  diamonds. 
He  learns  the  time  which  he  wastes  from  a 
watch  full  gorgeously  carved,  (and  not 
with  the  most  modest  scenes,)  and  slung 
around  his  neck  by  a  ponderous  goklui 
chain.  There  is  not  so  splendid  a  fellow  to 
be  seen  sweeping  through  the  streets.  The 
landlord  makes  him  welcome — he  will  bear 
a  full  bill.  The  tailor  smiles  like  May — he 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING          x^ 

will  buy  half  his  shop.  Other  places  bid 
him  welcome — he  will  bear  large  steal- 
ings. 

Like  the  Judge,  he  makes  his  circuit,  but 
not  for  justice;  like  the  Preacher,  he  has 
his  appointments,  but  not  for  instruction. 
His  circuits  are  the  race-courses,  the  crowd- 
ed capital,  days  of  general  convocation, 
conventions,  and  mass-gatherings.  He  will 
flame  on  the  race-track,  bet  his  thousands, 
and  beat  the  ring  at  swearing,  oaths  vernacu- 
lar, imported,  simple,  or  compound.  The 
drinking-booth  smokes  when  he  draws  in 
his  welcome  suit.  Did  you  see  him  only 
by  day,  flaming  in  apparel,  jovial  and  free- 
hearted at  the  Restaurateur  or  Hotel,  you 
would  think  him  a  Prince  let  loose — a  cross 
between  Prince  Hal  and  Falstaff. 

But  night  is  his  day.  These  are  mere  ex- 
ercises, and  brief  prefaces  to  his  real  accom- 
plishments. He  is  a  good  fellow,  who 
dares  play  deeper  ;  he  is  wild  indeed,  who 
seems  wilder  ;  and  he  is  keen  indeed,  who 
is  sharper  than  he  is,  after  all  this  show  of 
frankness.  No  one  is  quicker,  slyer,  and 
more  alert  at  a  game.  He  can  shuffle  the 
pack  till  an  honest  man  would  as  soon 
think  of  looking  for  a  particular  drop  of 
water  in  the  ocean,  as  for  a  particular  card 
in  any  particular  place.  Perhaps  he  is  igno- 
rant which  is  at  the  top  and  which  at  the 


j^          GAMBLERS  AXD   GAMBLING 

bottom  I  At  any  rate,  watch  him  closely, 
or  you  will  get  a  lean  hand  and  he  a  fat 
one.  A  plain  man  would  think  him  a 
wizard  or  the  devil.  When  he  touches  a 
pack  they  seem  alive,  and  acting  to  his 
will  rather  than  his  touch.  He  deals  them 
like  lightning,  they  rain  like  snow-flakes, 
sometimes  one,  sometimes  two,  if  need  be 
four  or  five  together,  and  his  hand  hardly 
moved.  If  he  loses,  very  well,  he  laughs  ; 
if  he  gains,  he  only  laughs  a  little  more. 
Full  of  stories,  full  of  songs,  full  of  wit, 
full  of  roistering  spirit — yet  do  not  trespass 
too  much  upon  his  good  nature  with  insult ! 
All  this  outside  is  only  the  spotted  hide 
which  covers  the  tiger.  He  who  provokes 
this  man,  shall  see  what  lightning  can 
break  out  of  a  summer-seeming  cloud  I 

These  do  not  fairly  represent  the  race  of 
gamblers,— conveying  too  favorable  an 
impression.  There  is  one,  often  met  on 
Steamboats,  travelling  solely  to  gamble. 
He  has  the  servants,  or  steward,  or  some 
partner,  in  league  with  him,  to  fleece  every 
unwary  player  whom  he  inveigles  to  a  game. 
He  deals  falsely;  heats  his  dupe  to  madness 
by  drink,  drinking  none  himself;  watches 
the  signal  of  his  accomplice  telegraphing 
his  opponent's  hand ;  at  a  stray  look,  he 
will  slip  your  money  off  and  steal  it.  To 
cover  false  playing,  or  to  get  rid  of  paying 


GAMBLERS  AND    GAMBLING          ^ 

losses,  he  will  lie  fiercely,  and  swear  up- 
roariously, and  break  up  the  play  to  fight 
with  knife  or  pistol — first  scraping  the  table 
of  every  penny.  When  the  passengers  are 
asleep,  he  surveys  the  luggage,  to  see  what 
may  be  worth  stealing ;  he  pulls  a  watch 
from  under  the  pillow  of  one  sleeper ;  fum- 
bles in  the  pockets  of  another ;  and  gathers 
booty  throughout  the  cabin.  Leaving  the 
boat  before  morning,  he  appears  at  some 
village  hotel,  a  magnificent  gentleman,  a 
polished  traveller,  or  even  a  distinguished 
nobleman  ! 

There  is  another  gambler,  cowardly,  sleek, 
stealthy,  humble,  mousing,  and  mean — a 
simple  blood-sucker.  For  money,  he  will  be 
a  tool  to  other  gamblers ;  steal  for  them, 
and  from  them ;  he  plays  the  jackal,  and 
searches  victims  for  them,  humbly  satisfied 
to  pick  the  bones  afterward.  Thus,  (to  em- 
ploy his  own  language,)  he  ropes  in  the  in- 
experienced young,  flatters  them,  teaches 
them,  inflames  their  passions,  purveys  to 
their  appetites,  cheats  them,  debauches  them, 
draws  them  down  to  his  own  level,  and  then 
lords  it  over  them  in  malignant  meanness. 
Himself  impure,  he  plunges  others  into  las- 
civiousness  ;  and  with  a  train  of  reeking 
satellites,  he  revolves  a  few  years  in  the  orbit 
of  the  game,  the  brothel,  and  the  doctor's 
shop ;  then  sinks  and  dies :  the  world  is 


ig          GAMBLERS  AXD   GAMBLING 

purer,  and  good  men  thank  God  that  he  is 
gone. 

Besides  these,  time  would  fail  me  to 
describe  the  ineffable  dignity  of  a  gambling 
judge;  the  cautious,  phlegmatic  lawyer, 
gambling  from  sheer  avarice;  the  broken- 
down  and  cast-away  politician,  seeking  in 
the  game  the  needed  excitement,  anil  a 
f.iir  field  for  all  the  base  tricks  he  once 
played  off  as  a  patriot;  the  pert,  sharp, 
Iceen,  jockey-gambler;  the  soaked,  obese, 
plethoric,  wheezing,  bacchanal ;  and  a  crowd 
of  ignoble  worthies,  wearing  all  the  badges 
and  titles  of  vice,  throughout  its  base 
peerage. 

A  detail  of  the  evils  of  gambling  should 
be  preceded  by  an  illustration  of  that  con- 
stitution of  mind  out  of  which  they  mainly 
spring — I  mean  its  EXCITABILITY.  The 
body  is  not  stored  with  a  fixed  amount  of 
strength,  nor  the  mind  with  a  uniform 
measure  of  excitement;  but  both  are 
capable,  by  stimulation,  of  expansion  of 
strength  or  feeling,  almost  without  limit. 
Experience  shows,  that  within  certain 
bounds,  excitement  is  healthful  and  neces- 
sary, but  beyond  this  limit,  exhausting  and 
destructive.  Men  are  allowed  to  choose 
between  moderate  but  long-continued  ex- 
citement, and  intense  but  short-lived  ex- 
citement. Too  generally  they  prefer  the 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING         ^ 

latter.  To  gain  this  intense  thrill,  a  thou- 
sand methods  are  tried.  The  inebriate  ob- 
tains it  by  drink  and  drugs  ;  the  politician, 
by  the  keen  interest  of  the  civil  campaign; 
the  young  by  amusements  which  violently 
inflame  and  gratify  their  appetites.  When 
once  this  higher  flavor  of  stimulus  has  been 
tasted,  all  that  is  less  becomes  vapid  and 
disgustful.  A  sailor  tries  to  live  on  shore ; 
a  few  weeks  suffice.  To  be  sure,  there  is 
no  hardship,  or  cold,  or  suffering;  but 
neither  is  there  the  strong  excitement  of 
the  ocean,  the  gale,  the  storm,  and  the 
world  of  strange  sights.  The  politician 
perceives  that  his  private  affairs  are  de- 
ranged, his  family  neglected,  his  character 
aspersed,  his  feelings  exacerbated.  When 
men  hear  him  confess  that  his  career  is  a 
hideous  waking  dream,  the  race  vexatious, 
and  the  end  vanity,  they  wonder  that  he 
clings  to  it ;  but  he  knows  that  nothing  but 
the  fiery  wine  which  he  has  tasted  will  rouse 
up  that  intense  excitement,  now  become 
necessary  to  his  happiness.  For  this 
reason,  great  men  often  cling  to  public 
office  with  all  its  envy,  jealousy,  care,  toil, 
hates,  competitions,  and  unrequited  fidelity ; 
for  these  very  disgusts,  and  the  perpetual 
struggle,  strike  a  deeper  chord  of  excite- 
ment than  is  possible  to  the  gentler  touches 
of  home,  friendship  and  love.  Here  too  is 


!g           GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING 

the  key  to  the  real  evil  of  promiscuous 
novel-reading,  to  the  habit  of  reverie  and 
mental  romancing.  None  of  life's  common 
duties  can  excite  to  such  wild  pleasure  as 
these;  and  they  must  be  continued,  or  the 
mind  reacts  into  the  lethargy  of  fatigue  and 
ennui.  It  is  upon  this  principle  that  men 
love  pain  ;  suffering  is  painful  to  a  specta- 
tor; but  in  tragedies,  at  public  executions, 
at  pugilistic  combats,  at  cock-fi;^htiti^s, 
horse-races,  bear-baitings,  bull-fights,  gladi- 
atorial shows,  it  excites  a  jaded  mind  as 
nothing  else  can.  A  tyrant  torments  for 
the  same  reason  that  a  girl  reads  her  tear- 
bedewed  romance,  or  an  inebriate  drinks 
his  dram.  No  longer  susceptible  even  to 
inordinate  stimuli,  actual  moans,  and 
shrieks,  and  the  writhing  of  utter  agony, 
just  suffice  to  excite  his  worn-out  sense, 
and  inspire,  probably,  less  emotion  than 
ordinary  men  have  in  listening  to  a  tragedy 
or  reading  a  bloody  novel. 

Gambling  is  founded  upon  the  very 
worst  perversion  of  this  powerful  element 
of  our  nature.  It  heats  every  part  of  the 
mind  like  an  oven.  The  faculties  which 
produce  calculation,  pride  of  skill,  of 
superiority,  love  of  gain,  hope,  fear,  jeal- 
ousy, hatred,  are  absorbed  in  the  game, 
and  exhilarated,  or  exacerbated  by  victory 
or  defeat  These  passions  are,  doubtless, 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING         ig 

excited  in  men  by  the  daily  occurrences  of 
life;  but  then  they  are  transient,  and  coun- 
teracted by  a  thousand  grades  of  emotion, 
which  rise  and  fall  like  the  undulations  of 
the  sea.  But  in  gambling  there  is  no  inter- 
mission, no  counteraction.  The  whole 
mind  is  excited  to  the  utmost,  and  concen- 
trated at  its  extreme  point  of  excitation 
for  hours  and  days,  with  the  additional 
waste  of  sleepless  nights,  profuse  drinking, 
and  other  congenial  immoralities.  Every 
other  pursuit  becomes  tasteless ;  for  no 
ordinary  duty  has  in  it  a  stimulus  which 
can  scorch  a  mind  which  now  refuses  to 
burn  without  blazing,  or  to  feel  an  interest 
which  is  not  intoxication.  The  victim  of 
excitement  is  like  a  mariner  who  ventures 
into  the  edge  of  a  whirlpool  for  a  motion 
more  exhilarating  than  plain  sailing.  He 
is  unalarmed  during  the  first  few  gyrations, 
for  escape  is  easy.  But  each  turn  sweeps 
him  further  in ;  the  power  augments,  the 
speed  becomes  terrific  as  he  rushes  toward 
the  vortex ;  all  escape  now  hopeless.  A 
noble  ship  went  in  ;  it  is  spit  out  in  broken 
fragments,  splintered  spars,  crushed  masts, 
and  cast  up  for  many  a  rood  along  the 
shore.  The  specific  evils  of  gambling 
may  now  be  almost  imagined. 

I.  It  diseases  the  mind,  unfitting  it  for  the 
duties  of  life.     Gamblers  are  seldom  indus- 


20          GAMBLERS  AA'D   GAMBLIXG 

trious  men  in  any  useful  vocation.  A 
gambling  mechanic  finds  his  labor  K  ss 
rrhsliful  as  Ins  passion  for  play  inert. 
He  grows  unsteady,  neglects  his  work, 
becomes  unfaithful  to  promises ;  what  he 
performs  he  slights.  Little  jobs  seem  little 
enough ;  he  desires  immense  contracts, 
whose  uncertainty  has  much  the  excitement 
of  gambling — and  for  the  best  of  reasons; 
MM  in  the  pursuit  of  great  and  sudden 
profits,  by  wild  schemes,  he  stumbles  over 
into  ruin,  leaving  all  who  employed  or 
trusted  him  in  the  rubbish  of  his  specula- 
tions. 

A  gambling  lawyer,  neglecting  the  drudg- 
ery of  his  profession,  will  court  its  exciting 
duties.  To  explore  authorities,  compare 
reasons,  digest,  and  write, — this  is  tiresome. 
Hut  to  advocate,  to  engage  in  fiery  contests 
with  keen  opponents,  this  is  nearly  as  good 
as  gambling.  Many  a  ruined  client  has 
cursed  the  law,  and  cursed  a  stupid  jury, 
and  cursed  everybody  for  his  irretrievable 
loss,  except  his  lawyer,  who  gambled  all 
night  when  he  should  have  prepared  the 
case,  and  came  half  asleep  and  debauched 
into  court  in  the  morning  to  lose  a  good 
case  mismanaged,  and  snatched  from  his 
gambling  hands  by  the  art  of  sober  op- 
ponents. 

A  gambling  student,  if  such  a  thing  can 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING         2l 

be,  withdraws  from  thoughtful  authors  to 
the  brilliant  and  spicy;  from  the  pure 
among  these,  to  the  sharp  and  ribald  ;  from 
all  reading  about  depraved  life,  to  seeing; 
from  sight  to  experience.  Gambling  vitiates 
the  imagination,  corrupts  the  tastes,  destroys 
the  industry — for  no  man  will  drudge  for 
cents,  who  gambles  for  dollars  by  the  hun- 
dred ;  or  practise  a  piddling  economy, 
while,  with  almost  equal  indifference,  he 
makes  or  loses  five  hundred  in  a  night. 

II.  For  a  like  reason,  it  destroys  all 
domestic  habits  and  affections.  Home  is  a 
prison  to  an  inveterate  gambler;  there  is  no 
air  there  that  he  can  breathe.  For  a  mo- 
ment he  may  sport  with  his  children,  and 
smile  upon  his  wife;  but  his  heart,  its 
strong  passions,  are  not  there.  A  little 
branch-rill  may  flow  through  the  family, 
but  the  deep  river  of  his  affections  flows 
away  from  home.  On  the  issue  of  a  game, 
Tacitus  narrates  that  the  ancient  Germans 
would  stake  their  property,  their  wives,  their 
children,  and  themselves.  What  less  than 
this  is  it,  when  a  man  will  stake  that  prop- 
erty which  is  to  give  his  family  bread,  and 
that  honor  which  gives  them  place  and  rank 
in  society  ? 

When  playing  becomes  desperate  gam- 
bling, the  heart  is  a  hearth  where  all  the  fires 
of  gentle  feelings  have  smouldered  to  ashes ; 


22          GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING 

and  a  thorough-paced  gamester  could  rattle 
dice  in  a  charnel-house,  and  wrangle  for  his 
stikes  amid  murder  and  pocket  gold  drip- 
ping with  the  blood  of  his  own  kindred. 

III.  Gambling   is  the   parent   and  com- 
panion  of  every   vice   which  pollutes  the 
heart,  or  injures  society. 

It  is  a  practice  so  disallowed  among 
Christians,  and  so  excluded  by  mere  moral- 
ists and  so  hateful  to  industrious  and  thriv- 
ing men,  that  those  who  practise  it  are  shut 
up  to  themselves  ;  unlike  lawful  pursuits,  it 
is  not  modified  or  restrained  by  collision 
with  others.  Gamblers  herd  with  gamblers. 
They  tempt  and  provoke  each  other  to  all 
evil,  without  affording  one  restraint,  and 
without  providing  the  counterbalance  of  a 
single  virtuous  impulse.  They  are  like 
snakes  coiling  among  snakes,  poison  and 
poisoning ;  like  plague-patients,  infected  and 
diffusing  infection ;  each  sick  and  all  con- 
tagious. It  is  impossible  to  put  bad  men 
together  and  not  have  them  grow  worse. 
The  herding  of  convicts  promiscuously, 
produced  such  a  fermentation  of  depravity, 
that,  long  ago, legislators  forbade  it.  When 
criminals,  out  of  jail,  herd  together  by 
choice,  the  same  corrupt  nature  will  doom 
them  to  growing  loathsomeness,  because  of 
increasing  wickedness. 

IV.  It  is  a  provocative  of  thirst.     The 


GAMBLERS  AND    GAMBLING          2\ 

bottle  is  almost  as  needful  as  the  card,  the 
ball,  or  the  dice.  Some  are  seduced  to 
drink;  some  drink  for  imitation, at  first,  and 
fashion.  When  super-excitements,  at  inter- 
vals, subside,  their  victim  cannot  bear  the  I 
deathlike  gloom  of  the  reaction ;  and,  by 
drugs  or  liquor,  wind  up  their  system  to  the 
glowing  point  again.  Therefore,  drinking  is 
the  invariable  concomitant  of  the  theatre, 
circus,  race-course,  gaming-table,  and  of  all 
amusements  which  powerfully  excite  all  but 
the  moral  feelings.  When  the  double  fires 
of  dice  and  brandy  blaze  under  a  man,  he 
will  soon  be  consumed.  If  men  are  found 
who  do  not  drink,  they  are  the  more  notice- 
able because  exceptions. 

V.  It  is,  even  in  its  fairest  form,  the  almost 
inevitable  cause  of  dishonesty.  Robbers  have 
robbers'  honor  ;  thieves  have  thieves'  law  ; 
and  pirates  conform  to  pirates'  regulations. 
But  where  is  there  a  gambler's  code  ?  One 
law  there  is,  and  this  is  not  universal,  pay 
your  gambling- debts.  But  on  the  wide  ques- 
tion, how  is  it  fair  to  win — what  law  is 
there  ?  What  will  shut  a  man  out  from  a 
gambler's  club  ?  May  lie  not  discover  his 
opponent's  hand  by  fraud  ?  May  not  a  con- 
cealed thread,  pulling  the  significant  one ; — 
one,  two  ;  or  one,  two,  three  ;  or  the  sign  of 
a  bribed  servant  or  waiter,  inform  him,  and 
yet  his  standing  be  fair?  May  he  not 


24    GAMBLERS  AXD  GAMBLI.\C, 

cheat  in  shuffling,  and  yet  be  in  full  orders 
and  canonical  ?  May  lie  not  cheat  in  deal- 
ing, and  yet  be  a  welcome  gambler  ? — may 
he  not  steal  the  money  from  your  pile  by 
laying  his  hands  upon  it.  ju.-t  as  any  other 
thief  would,  and  yet  be  an  approved 
gambler?  May  not  the  whole  code  be 
stated  thus  :  Pay  U'hat  you  lose,  get  what 
you  can,  ana'  in  any  way  yon  can  !  I  am  told, 
perhaps,  that  there  are  honest  gamblers, 
gentlemanly  gamblers.  Certainly ;  there 
are  always  ripe  apples  before  there  are 
rotten.  Men  always  begin  before  they  end ; 
there  is  always  an  approximation  before 
there  is  contact.  Players  will  play  truly  till 
they  get  used  to  playing  untruly ;  will  be 
honest,  till  they  cheat ;  will  be  honorable, 
till  they  become  base ;  and  when  you  have 
said  all  this,  what  does  it  amount  to  but  this, 
that  men  who  really  gamble,  really  cheat ; 
and  that  they  only  do  not  cheat,  who  are 
not  yet  real  gamblers?  If  this  mends  the 
matter,  let  it  be  so  amended.  I  have  spoken 
of  gamesters  only  among  themselves ;  this 
is  the  least  part  of  the  evil ;  for  who  is  con- 
cerned when  lions  destroy  bears,  or  wolves 
devour  wolf-cubs,  or  snakes  sting  vipers? 
In  respect  to  that  department  of  gambling 
which  includes  the  roping-in  of  strangers, 
young  men,  collecting-clerks,  and  unsuspect- 
ing green-hands,  and  robbing  them,  I  have 


GAMBLERS  AND    GAMBLING          2^ 

no  language  strong  enough  to  mark  down 
its  turpitude,  its  infernal  rapacity.  After 
hearing  many  of  the  scenes  not  unfamiliar 
to  every  gambler,  I  think  Satan  might  be 
proud  of  their  dealings,  and  look  up  to  them 
with  that  deferential  respect,  with  which  one 
monster  gazes  upon  a  superior.  There  is 
not  even  the  expectation  of  honesty.  Some 
scullion-herald  of  iniquity  decoys  the  un- 
wary wretch  into  the  secret  room  ;  he  is 
tempted  to  drink ;  made  confident  by  the 
specious  simplicity  of  the  game;  allowed  to 
win ;  and  every  bait  and  lure  and  blind  is 
employed — then  he  is  plucked  to  the  skin 
by  tricks  which  appear  as  fair  as  honesty  it- 
self. The  robber  avows  his  deed,  does  it 
openly ;  the  gambler  sneaks  to  the  same 
result  under  skulking  pretences.  There  is 
a  frank  way,  and  a  mean  way  of  doing  a 
wicked  thing.  The  gambler  takes  the 
meanest  way  of  doing  the  dirtiest  deed. 
The  victim's  own  partner  is  sucking  his 
blood  ;  it  is  a  league  of  sharpers,  to  get  his 
money  at  any  rate ;  and  the  wickedness  is 
so  unblushing  and  unmitigated,  that  it 
gives,  at  last,  an  instance  of  what  the  deceit- 
ful human  heart,  knavish  as  it  is,  is  ashamed 
to  try  to  cover  or  conceal ;  but  confesses  with 
helpless  honesty,  that  it  is  fraud,  cheating, 
stealing,  robbery, — and  nothing  else. 

If  I  walk  the  dark  street,  and  a  perish- 


26           GAMBLERS  A\D   CAMK1.I.\C. 

ing,  hungry  wretch  meets  me  and  bears  off 
my  purse  with  but  a  single  dollar,  the  whole 
town  awakes ;  the  officers  are  alert,  the 
myrmidons  of  the  law  scout,  and  hunt,  and 
bring  in  the  trembling  culprit  to  stow  him 
in  the  jail,  liut  a  worse  thief  may  meet 
me,  decoy  my  steps,  and  by  a  greater  dis- 
honesty, filch  ten  thousand  dollars, — and 
what  then  ?  The  story  .spreads,  the  shaipd  s 
move  abroad  unharmed,  no  one  stirs.  It  is 
the  day's  conversation  ;  and  like  a  sound  it 
rolls  to  the  distance,  and  dies  in  an  echo. 

Shall  such  astounding  iniquities  be  vom- 
ited out  amidst  us,  and  no  man  care  ?  Do 
we  love  our  children,  and  yet  let  them  walk 
in  a  den  of  vipers  ?  Shall  we  pretend  to 
virtue,  and  purity,  and  religion,  and  yet 
make  partners  of  our  social  life,  men  whose 
heart  has  conceived  .<  uch  damnable  deeds, 
and  whose  hands  have  performed  them  ? 
Shall  there  be  even  in  the  eye  of  religion 
no  difference  between  the  corrupter  of  youth 
and  their  guardian?  Are  all  the  lines  and 
marks  of  morality  so  effaced,  is  the  nerve 
and  courage  of  virtue  so  quailed  by  the 
frequency  and  boldness  of  flagitious  crimes, 
that  men,  covered  over  with  wickedness, 
shall  find  their  iniquity  no  obstacle  to  their 
advancement  among  a  Christian  people. 

In  almost  every  form  of  iniquity  there  is 
some  shade  or  trace  of  good.  We  have  in 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING         %- 

gambling  a  crime  standing  alone — dark, 
malignant,  uncompounded  wickedness  !  It 
seems  in  its  full  growth  a  monster  without 
a  tender  mercy,  devouring  its  own  offspring 
without  one  feeling  but  appetite.  A  game- 
ster, as  such,  is  the  cool,  calculating,  essen- 
tial spirit  of  concentrated  avaricious  selfish- 
ness. His  intellect  is  a  living  thing,  quick- 
ened with  double  life  for  villany  ;  his  heart 
is  steel  of  fourfold  temper.  When  a  man 
begins  to  gamble  he  is  as  a  noble  tree  full 
of  sap,  green  with  leaves,  a  shade  to  beasts, 
and  a  covert  to  birds.  When  one  becomes 
a  thorough  gambler,  he  is  like  that  tree 
lightning-smitten,  rotten  in  root,  dry  in 
branch,  and  sapless ;  seasoned  hard  and 
tough  ;  nothing  lives  beneath  it,  nothing  on 
its  branches,  unless  a  hawk  or  a  vulture 
perches  for  a  moment  to  whet  its  beak,  and 
fly  screaming  away  for  its  prey. 

To  every  young  man  who  indulges  in  the 
least  form  of  gambling,  I  raise  a  warning 
voice !  Under  the  specious  name  of  AMUSE- 
MENT, you  are  laying  the  foundation  of 
gambling.  Playing  is  the  seed  which  comes 
up  gambling.  It  is  the  light  wind  which 
brings  up  the  storm.  It  is  the  white  frost 
which  preludes  the  winter.  You  are  mis- 
taken, however,  in  supposing  that  it  is 
harmless  in  its  earliest  beginnings.  Its  ter- 
rible blight  belongs,  doubtless,  to  a  later 


2S          GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBI.IXG 

stage;  but  its  consumption  of  time,  its 
destruction  of  industry,  its  distaste  for  the 
calmer  pleasures  of  life,  belong  to  the 
very  beginning.  You  will  begin  to  play 
with  every  generous  feeling.  Amusement 
will  be  the  plea.  At  the  beginning  the 
game  will  excite  enthusiasm,  pride  of  skill, 
the  love  of  master}',  and  the  love  of  money. 
The  love  of  money,  at  first  almost  imper- 
ceptible, at  last  will  rule  out  all  the  rest, — 
like  Aaron's  rod, — a  serpent,  swallowing 
every  other  serpent.  Generosity,  enthu- 
siasm, pride  and  skill,  love  of  master}-,  will 
be  absorbed  in  one  mighty  feeling, — the 
savage  lust  of  lucre. 

There  is  a  downward  climax  in  this  sin. 
The  opening  and  ending  are  fatally  con- 
nected, and  drawn  toward  each  other  with 
almost  irresistible  attraction.  If  gambling 
is  a  vortex,  playing  is  the  outer  ring  of  the 
Maelstrom.  The  thousand  pound  stake, 
the  whole  estate  put  up  on  a  game — \\hat 
are  these  but  the  instruments  of  kindling 
that  tremendous  excitement  which  a  dis- 
eased heart  craves  ?  What  is  the  amuse- 
ment for  which  you  play  but  the  excitement 
of  the  game?  And  for  what  but  this  does 
the  jaded  gambler  play  ?  You  differ  from 
him  only  in  the  degree  of  the  same  feeling. 
Do  not  solace  yourself  that  you  shall 
escape  because  others  have;  for  they 


GAMBLERS  AND    GAMBLING          2g 

stopped,  and  you  go  on.  Are  you  as  safe  as 
they,  when  you  are  in  the  gulf-stream  of 
perdition,  and  they  on  the  shore  ?  But 
have  you  ever  asked,  how  many  have 
escaped  ?  Not  one  in  a  thousand  is  left 
unblighted!  You  have  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  chances  against  you,  and  one 
for  you ;  and  will  you  go  on  ?  If  a  dis- 
ease should  stalk  through  the  town,  devour- 
ing whole  families,  and  sparing  not  one  in 
five  hundred,  would  you  lie  down  under  it 
quietly  because  you  have  one  chance  in 
five  hundred?  Had  a  scorpion  stung  you, 
would  it  alleviate  your  pangs  to  reflect  that 
you  had  only  one  chance  in  one  hundred  ? 
Had  you  swallowed  corrosive  poison, 
would  it  ease  your  convulsions  to  think 
there  was  only  one  chance  in  fifty  for  you  ? 
I  do  not  call  every  man  who  plays  a  gam- 
bler, but  a  gambler  in  embryo.  Let  me 
trace  your  course  from  the  amusement  of 
innocent  playing  to  its  almost  inevitable 
end. 

Scene  first.  A  genteel  coffee-house, — 
whose  humane  screen  conceals  a  line  of 
grenadier  bottles,  and  hides  respectable 
blushes  from  impertinent  eyes.  There  is 
a  quiet  little  room  opening  out  of  the  bar ; 
and  here  sit  four  jovial  youths.  The  cards 
are  out,  the  wines  are  in.  The  fourth  is  a 
reluctant  hand ;  he  does  not  love  the  drink, 


jO          GAMBLERS  AND  GAMBLING 

nor  approve  the  game.  He  anticipates 
and  fears  the  result  of  both.  Why  is  he 
here  ?  He  is  a  whole-souled  fellow,  and 
is  afraid  to  seem  ashamed  of  any  fashion- 
able gaiety.  He  will  sip  his  wine  upon 
the  importunity  of  a  friend  newly  come  to 
town,  and  is  too  polite  to  spoil  that  friend's 
pleasure  by  refusing  a  part  in  the  game. 
They  sit,  shuffle,  deal ;  the  night  wears 
on,  the  clock  telling  no  tale  of  passing 
hours — the  prudent  liquor-fiend  has  made 
it  safely  dumb.  The  night  is  getting  old  ; 
its  dank  air  grows  fresher ;  the  east  is 
grey ;  the  gaming  and  drinking  and  hila- 
rious laughter  are  over,  and  the  youths 
wending  homeward.  What  says  con- 
science ?  No  matter  what  it  says ;  they 
did  not  hear,  and  we  will  not.  Whatever 
was  said,  it  was  very  shortly  answered 
thus:  "This  has  not  been  gambling;  all 
were  gentlemen  ;  there  was  no  cheating ; 
simply  a  convivial  evening ;  no  stakes 
except  the  bills  incident  to  the  entertain- 
ment. If  anybody  blames  a  young  man 
for  a  little  innocent  exhilaration  on  a  spe- 
cial occasion,  he  is  a  superstitious  bigot  ; 
let  him  croak!"  Such  a  garnished  game 
is  made  the  text  to  justify  the  whole 
round  of  gambling.  Let  us,  then,  look  at 

Scene  the  second.     In  a  room  so  silent  that 
there  is  no  sound  except  the  shrill  cock 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING          •?! 

crowing  the  morning,  where  the  forgotten 
candles  burn  dimly  over  the  long  and 
lengthened  wick,  sit  four  men.  Carved 
marble  could  not  be  more  motionless,  save 
their  hands.  Pale,  watchful,  though  weary, 
their  eyes  pierce  the  cards,  or  furtively  read 
each  other's  faces.  Hours  have  passed 
over  them  thus.  At  length  they  rise  with- 
out words;  some,  with  a  satisfaction  which 
only  makes  their  faces  brightly  haggard, 
scrape  off  the  piles  of  money  ;  others,  dark, 
sullen,  silent,  fierce,  move  away  from  their 
lost  money.  The  darkest  and  fiercest  of 
the  four  is  that  young  friend  who  first  sat 
down  to  make  out  a  game !  He  will  never 
sit  so  innocently  again.  What  says  he  to 
his  conscience  now  ?  "  I  have  a  right  to 
gamble  ;  I  have  a  right  to  be  damned  too, 
if  I  choose ;  whose  business  is  it  ?  " 

Scene  the  third.  Years  have  passed  on. 
He  has  seen  youth  ruined,  at  first  with  ex- 
postulation, then  with  only  silent  regret, 
then  consenting  to  take  part  of  the  spoils  ; 
and  finally,  he  has  himself  decoyed,  duped, 
and  stripped  them  without  mercy.  Go 
with  one  into  that  dilapidated  house,  not  far 
from  the  landing,  at  New  Orleans.  Look 
into  that  dirty  room.  Around  a  broken 
table,  sitting  upon  boxes,  kegs,  or  rickety 
chairs,  see  a  filthy  crew  dealing  cards 
smouched  with  tobacco,  grease  and  liquor. 


32          G.4MBLEKS  AND   GAMBL1.\C, 

One  has  a  pirate-face  burnished  and  burnt 
with  brandy;  a  shock  of  grizzly,  matted 
hair,  half  covering  his  villain  eyes,  which 
glare  out  like  a  wild  beast's  from  a  thicket. 
Close  by  him  wheezes  a  white-faced,  drop- 
sical wretch,  vermin-covered,  and  stenchful. 
A  scoundrel-Spaniard,  and  a  burly  negro, 
(the  jolliest  of  the  four,)  complete  the  group. 
They  have  spectators — drunken  sailors,  and 
ogling,  thieving,  drinking  women,  who 
should  have  died  long  ago,  when  all  that 
was  womanly  died.  Here  hour  draws  on 
hour,  sometimes  with  brutal  laughter,  some- 
times with  threat,  and  oath,  and  uproar. 
The  last  few  stolen  dollars  lost,  and  temper 
too,  each  charges  each  with  cheating,  and 
high  words  ensue,  and  blows;  and  the 
whole  gang  burst  out  the  door,  beating, 
biting,  scratching,  and  rolling  over  and  over 
in  the  dirt  and  dust.  The  worst,  the  fiercest, 
the  drunkest,  of  the  four,  is  our  friend  who 
began  by  making  up  the  game! 

Scene  the  fourth.  Upon  this  bright  day, 
stand  with  me,  if  you  would  be  sick  of  hu- 
manity, and  look  over  that  multitude  of 
men  kindly  gathered  to  sec  a  murderer 
hung!  At  last,  a  guarded  cart  drags  on  a 
thrice-guarded  wretch.  At  the  gallows' 
ladder  his  courage  fails.  His  coward-feet 
refuse  to  ascend  ;  dragged  up,  he  is  sup- 
ported by  bustling  officials ;  his  brain  reels. 


GAMBLERS  AND    GAMBLING 


33 


his  eye  swims,  while  the  meek  minister 
utters  a  final  prayer  by  his  leaden  ear.  The 
prayer  is  said,  the  noose  is  fixed,  the  signal 
is  given  ;  a  shudder  runs  through  the  crowd 
as  he  swings  free.  After  a  moment,  his 
convulsed  limbs  stretch  down,  and  hang 
heavily  and  still;  and  he  who  began  to 
gamble  to  make  up  a  game,  and  ended 
with  stabbing  an  enraged  victim  whom  he 
had  fleeced,  has  here  played  his  last  game, 
— himself  the  stake! 

I  feel  impelled,  in  closing,  to  call  the  at- 
tention of  all  sober  citizens  to  some  potent 
influences  which  are  exerted  in  favor  of 
gambling. 

In  our  civil  economy  we  have  Legislators 
to  devise  and  enact  wholesome  laws ; 
Lawyers  to  counsel  and  aid  those  who  need 
the  laws'  relief;  and  Judges  to  determine 
and  administer  the  laws.  If  Legislators, 
Lawyers,  and  Judges  are  gamblers,  with 
what  hope  do  we  warn  off  the  young  from 
this  deadly  fascination,  against  such  author- 
itative examples  of  high  public  function- 
aries ?  With  what  eminent  fitness  does  that 
Judge  press  the  bench,  who  in  private  com- 
mits the  vices  which  officially  he  is  set  to 
condemn  !  With  what  singular  terrors  does 
he  frown  on  a  convicted  gambler  with 
whom  he  played  last  night,  and  will  play 
again  to-night !  How  wisely  should  the  fine 


34 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING 


be  light  which  the  sprightly  criminal  will 
win  and  pay  out  of  the  Judge's  own  pocket ! 

With  the  name  of  JUDGE  is  associated 
ideas  of  immaculate  purity,  sober  piety,  and 
fearless,  favorlcss  justice.  Let  it  then  be 
counted  a  dark  crime  for  a  recreant  official 
so  far  to  forget  his  reverend  place,  and 
noble  office,  as  to  run  the  gantlet  of  filthy 
vices,  and  make  the  word  Judge,  to  suggest 
an  incontinent  trifler,  who  smites  with  his 
mouth,  and  smirks  with  his  eye  ;  who  holds 
the  rod  to  strike  the  criminal,  and  smites 
only  the  law  to  make  a  ^ap  for  criminals  to 
pass  through  !  If  God  loves  this  land,  may 
he  save  it  from  truckling.drinking,  swearing, 
gambling,  vicious  Judges!  * 

With  such  Judges  I  must  associate  cor- 
rupt LEGISLATORS,  whose  bawling  patriotism 
leaks  out  in  all  the  sinks  of  infamy  at  the 
Capital.  These  living  exemplars  of  vice, 
pasi  still-born  laws  against  vice.  Are  such 
men  sent  to  the  Capital  only  to  practise  de- 
bauchery ?  Laborious  seedsmen — they 
gather  every  germ  of  evil ;  and  laborious 
sowers — at  home  they  strew  them  far  and 
wide!  It  is  a  burning  shame,  a  high  out- 
rage, that  public  men,  by  corrupting  the 

•  The  general  eminent  integrity  of  the  Bench  U  unquestionable — 
and  no  remarks  in  the  text  are  to  be  construed  as  an  oblique  as- 
persion of  the  profession.  But  the  purer  our  Judges  generally. 
the  more  » ha  me  lea  is  it  that  some  will  not  abandon  either  their 
VICM  or  their  office. 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING 


35 


young  with  the  example  of  manifold  vices, 
should  pay  back  their  constituents  for  their 
honors ! 

Our  land  has  little  to  fear  from  abroad, 
and  much  from  within.  We  can  bear  for- 
eign aggression,  scarcity,  the  revulsions  of 
commerce,  plagues,  and  pestilences ;  but  we 
cannot  bear  vicious  Judges,  corrupt  Courts, 
gambling  Legislators,  and  a  vicious,  corrupt, 
and  gambling  constituency.  Let  us  not  be 
deceived  !  The  decay  of  civil  institutions 
begins  at  the  core.  The  outside  wears  all 
the  lovely  hues  of  ripeness,  when  the  inside 
is  rotting.  Decline  does  not  begin  in  bold 
and  startling  acts ;  but,  as  in  autumnal 
leaves,  in  rich  and  glowing  colors.  Over 
diseased  vitals,  consumptive  laws  wear  the 
hectic  blush,  a  brilliant  eye,  and  transparent 
skin.  Could  the  public  sentiment  declare 
that  PERSONAL  MORALITY  is  the  first  element 
of  patriotism ;  that  corrupt  Legislators  are 
the  most  pernicious  of  criminals ;  that  the 
Judge  who  lets  the  villain  off,  is  the  villain's 
patron;  that  tolerance  of  crime  is  intoler- 
ance of  virtue, — our  nation  might  defy  all 
enemies  and  live  forever ! 

And  now,  my  young  friends,  I  beseech 
you  to  let  alone  this  evil  before  it  be  med- 
dled with.  You  are  safe  from  vice  when 
you  avoid  even  its  appearance ;  and  only 
then.  The  first  steps  to  wickedness  are 


36 


UAM&LEKS  AMD 


imperceptible.  We  do  not  wonder  at  the 
inexperience  of  Adam  ;  but  it  is  wonderful 
that  six  thousand  years'  repetition  of  the 
same  arts,  and  the  same  uniform  disaster, 
should  have  taught  men  nothing  !  that 
generation  after  generation  should  perish, 
and  the  wreck  be  no  warning  ! 

The  mariner  searches  his  chart  for  hid- 
den rocks,  stands  off  from  perilous  shoals, 
and  steers  wide  of  reefs  on  which  hang 
shattered  morsels  of  wrecked  ships,  and 
runs  in  upon  dangerous  shores  with  the  ship 
manned,  the  wheel  in  hand,  and  the  lead 
constantly  sounding.  But  the  mariner  upon 
life's  sea,  carries  no  chart  of  other  men's 
voyages,  drives  before  every  wind  that  will 
speed  him,  draws  upon  horrid  shores  with 
si  umbering  crew,  or  heads  in  upon  roaring 
reefs  as  though  he  would  not  perish  where 
thousands  have  perished  before  him. 

Hell  is  populated  with  the  victims  of 
"harmless  amusements"  Will  man  never 
learn  that  the  way  to  hell  is  through  the 
valley  of  DECEIT?  The  power  of  Satan  to 
hold  his  victims  is  nothing  to  that  mastery 
of  art  by  which  he  first  gains  them.  When 
he  approaches  to  charm  us,  it  is  not  as  a 
grim  fiend,  gleaming  from  a  lurid  cloud,  but 
as  an  angel  of  light  radiant  with  innocence. 
His  words  fall  like  dew  upon  the  flower; 
as  musical  as  the  crystal-drop  warbling  from 


GAMBLERS  AND    GAMBLING 


37 


a  fountain.  Beguiled  by  his  art,  he  leads 
you  to  the  enchanted  ground.  Oh  !  how  it 
glows  with  every  refulgent  hue  of  heaven  ! 
Afar  off  he  marks  the  dismal  gulf  of  vice 
and  crime;  its  smoke  of  torment  slowly 
rising,  and  rising  forever !  and  he  himself 
cunningly  warns  you  of  its  dread  disaster, 
for  the  very  purpose  of  blinding  and  draw- 
ing you  thither.  He  leads  you  to  captivity 
through  all  the  bowers  of  lulling  magic. 
He  plants  your  foot  on  odorous  flowers; 
he  fans  your  cheek  with  balmy  breath ;  he 
overhangs  your  head  with  rosy  clouds ;  he 
fills  your  ear  with  distant,  drowsy  music, 
charming  every  sense  to  rest.  Oh  ye  !  who 
have  thought  the  way  to  hell  was  bleak  and 
frozen  as  Norway,  parched  and  barren  as 
Sahara,  strewed  like  Golgotha  with  bones 
and  skulls  reeking  with  stench  like  the  vale 
of  Gehenna, — witness  your  mistake  I-  The 
way  to  hell  is  gorgeous !  It  is  a  highway, 
cast  up ;  no  lion  is  there,  no  ominous  bird 
to  hoot  a  warning,  no  echoings  of  the  wail- 
ing-pit,  no  lurid  gleams  of  distant  fires,  or 
moaning  sounds  of  hidden  woe  !  Paradise 
is  imitated  to  build  you  a  way  to  death  ;  the 
flowers  of  heaven  are  stolen  and  poisoned ; 
the  sweet  plant  of  knowledge  is  here ;  the 
pure  white  flower  of  religion;  seeming  vir- 
tue and  the  charming  tints  of  innocence  are 
scattered  all  along  like  native  herbage.  The 


38          GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING 

enchanted  victim  travels  on.  Standing  afar 
behind,  and  from  a  silver-trumpet,  a  heav- 
enly messenger  sends  down  the  wind  a  sol- 
emn warning :  THERE  is  A  WAY  WHICH  SEEM- 

ETH  RIGHT  TO  MAN,   BUT  THE  END  THEREOF 

is  DEATH.     And  again,  with  louder  blast : 

THE  WISE  MAN  FORESEETH  THE  EVIL;  FOOLS 

PASS  ON  AND  ARE  PUNISHED.  Startled  for  a 
moment,  the  victim  pauses;  gazes  round 
upon  the  flowery  scene,  and  whispers,  Is  it 
not  harmless  f  —  "Harmless,  "  responds  a 
serpent  from  the  grass  ! — "Harmless"  echo 
the  sighing  winds  ! — "Harmless,"  re-echo  a 
hundred  airy  tongues !  If  now  a  gale  from 
heaven  might  only  sweep  the  clouds  away 
through  which  the  victim  gazes;  oh!  if  God 
would  break  that  potent  power  which  chains 
the  blasts  of  hell,  and  let  the  sulphur-stench 
roll  up  the  vale,  how  would  the  vision 
change ! — the  road  become  a  track  of  dead 
men's  bones! — the  heavens  a  lowering 
storm  ! — the  balmy  breezes,  distant  waitings 
— and  all  those  balsam-shrubs  that  lied  to 
his  senses,  sweat  drops  of  blood  upon  their 
poison-boughs ! 

Ye  who  are  meddling  with  the  edges  of 
vice,  ye  are  on  this  road  ! — and  utterly 
duped  by  its  enchantments !  Your  eye  has 
already  lost  its  honest  glance,  your  taste 
has  lost  its  purity,  your  heart  throbs  with 
poison!  The  leprosy  is  all  over  you,  its 


GAMBLERS  AND   GAMBLING          39 

blotches  and  eruptions  cover  you.  Your 
feet  stand  on  slippery  places,  whence  in  due 
time  they  shall  slide,  if  you  refuse  the 
warning  which  I  raise.  They  shall 
slide  from  heaven,  never  to  be  visited 
by  a  gambler;  slide  down  to  that 
fiery  abyss  below  you,  out  of  which  none 
ever  come.  Then,  when  the  last  card  is 
cast,  and  the  game  over,  and  you  lost ; 
then,  when  the  echo  of  your  fall  shall  ring 
through  hell, — in  malignant  triumph,  shall 
the  Arch-Gambler,  who  cunningly  played 
for  your  soul,  have  his  prey  !  Too  late  you 
shall  look  back  upon  life  as  a  MIGHTY  GAME, 
in  which  you  were  the  stake,  and  Satan  the 
winner ! 


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THE  BEAUTIES  OF  NATURE,  by  Sir  John  Lubbock. 

SELF  RELIANCE,  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

THE  DUTY  OF  HAPPINESS,  by  Sir  John  Lubbock. 

SPIRITUAL  LAWS,  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

OLD  CHRISTMAS,  by  Washington  Irving. 

HEALTH,  WEALTH  AND  THE  BLESSING  OF 
FRIENDS,  by  Sir  John  Lubbock. 

INTELLECT,  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

WHY  AMERICANS  DISLIKE  ENGLAND,  by  Prof. 
Geo.  B.  Adams  (Yale). 

THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  AS  A  TRAINING  FOR 
BUSINESS,  by  Prof.  Harry  Pratt  Judson  (University 
of  Chicago). 

MISS  TOOSEY'S  MISSION. 

LADDIE. 

J.  COLE,  by  Emma  Gellibrand. 


HENRY  ALTEMUS, 
507,  509,  577,  573  Cherry  Street,  Philadelphia. 


A    000717314    9 


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